The first of this year's book reviews - yay!
So let me admit that I started this on a plane flight back in October and I've just finished it today, which maybe shows you how gripped by it I was(n't). If aeroplanes had opening windows and if it wouldn't have caused us all to be sucked out to our deaths, I'd have thrown this book out before reaching the end of the first chapter. I was annoyed with the poor grammar and poor punctuation within a few paragraphs, particularly since I'm consciously deconstructing things I read these days to help me with my own writing. It was doubly frustrating in that if I could pick up the problems then so should an editor. Slapped wrists to Harper there.
In the first part, I couldn't decide which point of view the author was narrating from. She uses both Meg Giggs and Hans Holbein as point of view characters, which is fine, but in some of the Meg chapters she seemed to head-hop to Clement. Just when I'd accepted an omniscient POV (even though I didn't like it much) she swapped in the second half to Meg/Hans again but threw in a few passages in first person. Just choose your viewpoint and stick with it, please!
There was a scene early on which didn't work for me in which the characters raise the fate of the Princes in the Tower. I couldn't see why that scene was even there as it was clumsily worked in. It turned out to be foreshadowing, but it would have been nice if that could have been done with more delicacy and finesse.
The other thing that didn't convince me was the development of the Thomas More character. We are told repeatedly that things are getting worse for the More family: they have fallen out of favour with the king; they are tense and the family becomes hated; they are scared for their futures. Telling me that over and over doesn't work, I'm afraid. You have to show me the situation worsening and the author simply didn't.
The other thing that really annoyed me was John Clement being described as having "electric blue" eyes. Really? In 1527? I know the language used in the book for dialogue and so on was modern, but obvious anachronisms just jar me out of the story.
On the plus side, this made me go and Google the historical basis behind it and I am intrigued by the central premise regarding John Clement and the supposed cover-up of his identity by the Tudor monarchs and Thomas More. I shall also probably read some non-fiction about Hans Holbein, who was the most interesting figure in the book by some considerable margin.
Jack Leslau's theory about John Clement is fascinating and I'd have loved this book to be better. Ultimately though, I just found it frustrating, so an average three stars from me.
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